Writing

This is a review of Insider Thought Trading by James and Blake Bar. I received my copy through the BookCrash book review program in return for my writing this review. I hope they're not sorry ...

I think there’s good information in this book, useful tools for changing your thoughts and your habits. It’s just that it’s almost impossible to find them.

The first part of the book is a convoluted story. If it were a true story, it would still be hard to follow, as the tenses and quotations ramble. But the author states, “the story portion of this book is a parable-style journey that roughly resembles the author’s life. … This story is not meant to be autobiographical.” Which means the unlikely portions of the narrative can’t be accepted as fact, and this reader kept trying to figure out what the point of the parable was. As best I could decipher, it’s a preachy little story meant to teach simple people—the sort of thing that was popular in children’s writing in the 1700s and 1800s.

The second part is supposedly the how-to part, a step-by-step explanation of something called the “3-3-3 You Are Free Lifestyle Design.” However, the authors assume we know more than we do. It seems to be a self-behavior-modification program, where you give yourself points for changing your thoughts and take away points for wrong thinking … or something like that. There are references to “grace notes” and “love notes” and keeping score, with little explanation of the application of the system. Personally, when I’m trying to change a bad habit or, much harder, a bad thinking pattern, keeping a tally score of goods and bads isn’t going to help.

Nonetheless, I’m convinced that—somewhere in here—there’s good stuff. I hope the authors will do another rewrite for clarification and application.